That Former Cabinet Minister and current DeBeers Resident Director Neo Moroka shot and killed an 18 year old boy who worked for him as a laborer at his farm near Tsabong is not in dispute.
In fact, almost immediately after gunning down the poor boy, Moroka is said to have presented himself to the Police. That is what every responsible citizen ought to do and for that Moroka deserves commendation. I have no deeper knowledge of Moroka’s personality. I only see him from a distant and from my observation; he has always appeared, though I know appearances can deceive, to be a soft and kind-hearted person.
He is the kind you’d never even think could hurt a fly, though it has since turned out he has no love for dogs. When I first heard about the terrible news, my sympathy went to the family of the deceased young man and my empathy went to Moroka. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the devastation that befell the Danster family when confronted with the terrible news on the death of their son, Kealeboga, whom we learn was the only child in the family with a promising future. Her poor mother never stops to mention how she had pinned all her hopes for a better life on Kealeboga. Kealeboga had just finished his Form 5 and was due to enroll for tertiary education. It was therefore plausible that her mother would harbor hopes for a better future. Sadly, the world came crushing down on her on that fateful April 22 this year when Moroka shockingly mistook Kealeboga for a dog and killed him instantly. My intention here is not to go into the merits of the case. There are so many questions that I could pose to Moroka but I will steer clear and put more focus on the plea I want to put forward to Moroka in a bit.
I mean, I could ask Moroka why he is of the view that dogs deserve to be shot at and killed. I could ask him to explain why he fired two shots (as reported recently in the media) if at all he had no intentions to kill Kealeboga. However, I will leave those questions to those who are tasked with dispensing justice. If they don’t want to probe Moroka, as they seemingly appear so reluctant to do, Moroka will one day have his day with God or karma may just present itself. I don’t wish any evil on Moroka. My plea to Moroka is very simple and straight forward. I ask Moroka to show some remorse. Moroka must show the Danster family that indeed he killed their son by mistake.
And what I mean is, even if deep down his heart he may know he killed Kealeboga intentionally, he must find it within himself to at least pretend he didn’t. It must be really painful for the Danster family to see the seemingly ‘I don’t care’ attitude displayed by Moroka. More hurting for the family must be the fact that they were told their son was killed because he looked like a dog in the 4 eyes of Moroka (he is bespectacled). It is very inhumane of Moroka to think he owes an explanation to the law enforcement officers only and none to the Danster Family. Legally yes, Moroka might have followed all the right procedures but what is legally right is not always ethically right.
From what we gather through the media, Moroka has never found it befitting to reach out to the Danster family and help them find closure. He went to the Police. They did whatever they did. The case was handed over to the DPP and within a blink of an eye Moroka was absolved of any wrong doing. And like I mentioned, that is not really my interest. My bone of contention is, Moroka didn’t need to be told by the courts of law whether he was wrong or right in killing Kealeboga. He shot and killed someone’s child.
That is an undeniable fact. Fine, the DPP cleared Moroka. Basically what they are saying is that there is no evidence that Kealeboga didn’t look like a dog on the night he was killed. You probably want to know what is it that I want Moroka to do since he has not been found guilty by the law enforcement officers. There is something that Moroka can do. That which he cannot do is to bring back Kealeboga back to life and that is not what I’m asking him to do. All I ask from him is to reach out to Kealeboga’s mother and soothe her hurting heart. He must face the woman, in person, and apologize.
He must go further than that. We learn through the media that Kealeboga’s mother is a destitute. We also learn that Kealeboga had promised to give his mother a monthly living allowance of P1000 once he was done with school and working. There are things we also know about Kealeboga’s killer. Moroka is a wealthy businessman and a cattle baron. Moroka draws a hefty salary from DeBeers. Moroka lives in opulence in the outskirts of Gaborone where pays people to open the gate for him, water his flowers, wash his plates and do his laundry. His is moneyed. I therefore ask Moroka to include Kealeboga’s mother in the list of those people he pays every month. He pays them because they work for him and he must pay the old woman because he has deprived her of a better life by taking away the life of her only child who had prospects of taking care of his mother. It is so shameful that Kealeboga’s mother has had to go to the courts of law to try and force Moroka to compensate her. I would have expected Moroka to have approached Kealeboga’s mother with an offer of compensation without having to be dragged to court. Have a heart Rre Moroka. Help Kealeboga’s mother. [email protected] Twitter:@kuvuki
